Principal Apologizes After Suspending Seniors for Riding Their Bikes to School

Nervous about past senior pranks involving vandalism and various other destructive behavior, a high school principal in Michigan swiftly issued one-day suspensions for dozens of seniors who rode their bikes to school en masse because she thought it was intentionally meant to disrupt the school day.

About 100 students from Kenowa Hills High School in Walker, Mich. took a three-mile bike ride to school on Tuesday in celebration of their upcoming graduations. They were escorted by a police cruiser, and even the town mayor was on hand to dole out donuts — but principal Katie Pennington said the bikers caused major traffic problems and disrupted the school day, so she suspended 65 of the seniors who participated.

Parents were understandably upset, with one saying, “If it was a malicious act, I would support some type of punishment, but this was an organized, safe event.”

Having seen the error of her ways, Pennington has now issued a mea culpa. “I made a mistake and sincerely regret my actions,” she said. “I apologize to the students, their parents, and the community for a reaction that blew this incident out of proportion and called into question the character of our students.”

Zac Totten, class president and organizer of the bike ride, accepted the apology and even offered one of his own for not letting Pennington know about the ride ahead of time.